


Set My Fears to Rest

by onetiredboy



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onetiredboy/pseuds/onetiredboy
Summary: There’s something suspicious about Mistah Ransom’s daemon Gisela.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 7
Kudos: 143





	Set My Fears to Rest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pholo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pholo/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Awake My Soul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23509741) by [Pholo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pholo/pseuds/Pholo). 



> Cayo is a red squirrel just to make that clear.

There’s something suspicious about Mistah Ransom’s daemon Gisela.

And no, it’s _not_ that she’s become a very funny-lookin’ kinda coyote, even if Mistah Ransom still refuses to acknowledge anything’s happened and all Mistah Steel gives her is an odd half-repressed smile and a wobbly-sounding ‘what?’ when she asks.

That was weird the first day, and Rita’s been keepin’ a list of theories as ta what’s goin’ on there, but she’s adjusted to it. Also, she ain’t gonna try and investigate anymore, cause it turns out weird long furry ex-coyotes have real sharp teeth and she already had to get Vespa to bandage her up once trying to look and see if Mistah Ransom’s daemon had some kind of on/off switch, and then she had to sit through _another_ one of those lectures about touchin’ other people’s daemons and why it’s totally not okay, even if she didn’t even touch Gisela, just got within biting range.

Anyway. What’s _real_ suspicious about Gisela is the way that recently she ain’t ever more than two steps away from Hettie. Actually, she’s usually much closer.

As if on cue, Mistah Steel walks into the kitchen just as she’s thinkin’ about him.

“Morning, Rita,” he says. She’s still unused to this cheery Mistah Steel, but even by his new standards he’s in a good mood. He makes for the coffee machine without complainin’ once about havin’ a headache.

Hettie hops in next. They move slowly over to Juno’s side, first front legs, then back, so as not to dislodge the long stretch of fur that’s riding on their back. Rita narrows her eyes.

Cayo finishes his mini pancake she cooked for him, and skitters up Rita’s arm to her shoulder. He furrows his furry brow, “Where’s your human?”

Gisela peers up at him from Hettie’s back, “Still waking up.”

Rita’s eyes narrow further, “Alright. Are you gonna tell me what goin’ on, Mistah Steel?”

Mistah Steel turns around with his coffee in his hands. His face is the picture of perplexed innocence, “What?”

Rita gestures to the two daemons, curled around each other.

“Oh. Nah, Hettie hasn’t grown a second head. That’s just Gisela. Kinda similar colours, though, so I get why you thought that,” Mistah Steel says, and then sniffs, and makes for the kitchen exit. Hettie hops slowly after him.

“But! But! You!” Rita stands up in her chair, “Mistah Steel, you know that’s not what I meant! Get back here and answer me,” – he disappears around the corner -- “Juno!”

Hettie looks back from the doorway and twitches their nose at her. Then they hop out of sight. Rita growls in frustration and sits hard down in her chair.

“Hettie ain’t much more loose-lipped,” Cayo informs her, “And Gisela scares the crap outta me.” He sighs heavily and runs back down Rita’s arm to get the crumbs off the pancake plate, “Ain’t it awful to think one of the best romances of all times could be happening, and you don’t even know about it?”

Rita taps her painted nails on the side of her mug. “Yeah…” she says softly.

Cayo’s nose twitches, “Rita…”

“Well. There’s only one thing to do,” Rita cuts him off, her voice rumbling and revving like an engine at the start line, gearing up for a race of epic proportions, “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, Cayo?”

Cayo sighs, “Unfortunately, I am.”

* * *

It doesn’t take too long to set in motion. She’s been faking Mistah Steel’s handwriting for years, after all, in order to do all his important things like letters and unimportant things like taxes.

_Meet me in the lounge tonight at 7. Wear something nice._

She doesn’t know anything about Mistah Ransom’s handwriting, but that isn’t too bad. Mistah Ransom is a tech-savvy man after all, so it ain’t so hard for a very un tech-savvy lady like Mistah Steel to believe the anonymous notification he gets saying the exact same thing could be from him.

Then it’s simply a matter of telling everyone else on the ship she’s going to be watching her favourite streams tonight in the lounge including an eight hour long binge of _Space Pony Magic Girls: The Sparkle Returns,_ which is a stream so tragically misunderstood that even Jet won’t watch it with her, and stage one of her plan is done.

Stage two involves a lot of snacks.

Stage three involves throwin’ a blanket over the couch to hide all the snack stains, and putting a speaker on the top of the table in the middle of the room, and then pullin’ all the rest of the furniture outta the way.

Stage four means hidin’ just outta sight down one of the hallways, usin’ Cayo hiding on the middle shelf on the bookcase at the back of the room as her eyes, as the ship’s clock turns to seven.

She closes her eyes and reaches out to Cayo. The blackness behind her eyelids slowly begins to dissolve into a picture, like a comms screen.

Ransom walks in first. He’s in a black, long-sleeved blouse with a plunging neckline, that’s translucent apart from the cuffs and the hems. It has golden flowers embroidered on the sides. He’s in tight black pants and a nice pair’a heels. Rita gets the impression that even if her suspicions about him and Mistah Steel are wrong, Mistah Ransom isn’t usually the type to go in for ladies except for Juno’s kind, which is a damn shame if she’s bein’ honest. He’s real pretty.

Mistah Steel comes in a moment later from the door across the room. He’s in a white button-down shirt and a long black skirt with pockets that Rita recognises as his Important Business Only clothes from back in the P.I days, and Rita might be seein’ things weird through Cayo’s eyes but it almost looks like his boots have been cleaned. It’s a heartfelt effort, if not not exactly the right _vibe_ for the room.

“So, uh,” Juno says, hovering a little awkwardly near the door, “What’s a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?”

Mistah Ransom smiles. It’s a weird kinda smile Rita ain’t never seen on his face before, soft in a way she didn’t know he could be. “Oh, hoping a nice lady might give him some company, I suspect,” he says.

Mistah Steel snort-laughs and comes further into the room, “I, uh… don’t look quite as good as you do… this is kinda the nicest thing I own. Buddy didn’t let me keep that dress, and all mine are too casual for, uh…” He gestures to the room with his elbow without taking his hands out of his pockets, “Whatever this is.”

“You look wonderful,” Mistah Ransom soothes. “Though it is a shame about that dress. It looked rather stunning on you.”

“Yeah. Good to dance in, too, which not many dresses are.”

The conversation fades. It’s clear Mistah Ransom’s waiting for Mistah Steel to take the lead, since as far as he knows he was the one to send the note an’ all, and it’s just as clear Mistah Steel has no idea what he’s doing. Rita realises the mistake she made: hinging this whole thing on either one of them bein’ the kinda person to make the first move.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Rita mutters, and opens her eyes for a moment to fiddle with her long-range remote, turning up the volume of the music a little. She closes her eyes again.

“Lovely music,” Mistah Ransom says.

“Not my kind of thing, really,” Juno says. “Too slow.”

“Good for dancing,” Mistah Ransom muses. He glances away from Mistah Steel when he says it.

Mistah Steel laughs softly, and shakes his head. “Fine,” he says, “Goddamnit. Fine,” and reaches out his hand, “You wanna dance, or no?”

Ransom looks back at him, and smiles in that funny way again, “I thought you’d never ask.”

They come together like two halves of a song. Ransom leads, and he swirls Juno around the room. Juno’s skirt swishes outwards when Ransom twirls him, and then Juno comes back in and tucks against his chest.

The dance slows, then, to a gentle swaying. Juno’s head is on Ransom’s shoulder, and Ransom is saying something too quiet for Cayo to hear.

Then Juno laughs softly. He leans back, wraps his arms around Ransom’s neck, and pulls him down into a long, soft kiss.

The huge _‘I KNEW IT’_ that has been building up in Rita for the last five minutes rockets up in her chest. Just before it hits her throat, it’s tugged sharply back down by some force she can’t name.

Mistah Steel breaks from Ransom but only to get a better angle and kiss him again, deeper this time. One of his hands is in Ransom’s hair, and Ransom’s hands have started travelling down his back.

She should be happy for him. He looks like he’s havin’ a good time, after all. But as she opens her eyes she can’t help but feel like a balloon with a rock tied to the end with a piece of string, unable to float up and away in elation like she wants. Outta nowhere, tears prick at the back of her eyes.

She feels a nudge at her foot, and looks down.

Hettie looks up at her. “He didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” they say.

Rita blinks her wet eyes and says nothing. Hettie sighs heavily.

“He just thought it’d be a bit of fun, pretending like there was nothing going on when there obviously was. It’s just a game. And when he knows you know, he’ll tell you everything.”

Gisela slinks down the hall. She stalks up beside Hettie and leans over to start licking their fur, right behind their ear. Hettie’s ear twitches.

“He’s not going to start hiding things from you. He still loves you more than anything,” Hettie promises her. “Nothing will ever change that. Definitely not a pretty face.”

The string frays. Rita feels a little bit floatier. She smiles, “Thanks, Hettie. You’re real good at knowin’ what to say.”

“I seem to have the part of us who knows how to communicate,” Hettie agrees. Then their hind leg thumps and they turn their head into Gisela.

The thud of something heavy (two bodies, perhaps) landing on a couch, and then a peal of Juno’s laughter, comes floating from the lounge. Cayo comes skittering down the hall from his hideout and runs up Rita’s pant leg back onto her shoulder.

“I think I’ll leave ya to it,” Rita says. Then she wrinkles her nose, “Just make sure they ain’t gonna ruin my favourite blanket, alright?”

Hettie gives her a sharp nod, and then nuzzles their face into Gisela’s side even as Gisela redoubles her licking efforts.

“I guess we got our answer,” Cayo says as they walk down the hall, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Rita says. And she is. With every step, she can feel herself getting lighter and lighter.

“You believe Hettie then? That Juno isn’t going to start leaving you outta things?”

Rita’s breath catches in her throat for just a second. Then she scoffs, “Course he ain’t. He’s our best friend. And he’s a good lady. And we just got him back and he's different, now. You oughta be ashamed’a yourself for even thinkin’ that for an instant, Cayo.”

The squirrel huffs against her shoulder, “I guess,” he acquiesces, “At least him hiding it for this long means we’re gonna get all kinds of goss from the four of them tomorrow.”

Rita giggles her nasty giggle, and rubs her hands together, “Oh, Cayo,” she says, “You have no idea.”

From the room behind her, Mistah Steel lets out another sharp laugh.


End file.
